Cattle-guard.



D. THOMSON. CATTLE GUARD. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, 1908.

Patented June 1, 1909.

weii fitter-nay THE uomus PET 0., WASHINGTON, p, c,

UNITE PATENT OFFIQE.

DUGAL THOMSON, OF WEST NISSOURI TOWNSHIP, MIDDLESEX COUNTY, ONTARIO, CANADA.

CATTLE-GUARD.

To all wlz am it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, DUGAL THoMsoN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of the township of West Nissouri, in the county of Middlesex, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented a new and useful Cattle-Guard, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device placed on a railroad-track adjacent to a railway-crossing to prevent the passing or straying of cattle from the road onto said railroad track.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved railway cattle guard that will be simple, strong and durable in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and efficient in practical use.

A further object of the invention is to provide a railway cattle-guard which will be out of the way of passing trains and which will be operated by stock treading upon it.

A further object of the invention is to pro vide means to inclose or cover the pivotal ends of the guard bars so that no snow or slush can collect or freeze on or around them to interfere with their operation and to pro vide a cattle-guard that can be applied to a railroad track without cutting, oring or otherwise interfering with the railroad rails, and further one that can be manufactured cheaply and readily installed. And a further object of the invention is to provide a railway cattle-guard having a series of flat, horizontal guard bars, and to provide each of said bars with a triangular ri.) centrally on their upper sides so that the stock stepping thereon, will have no sure footing, and to provide said guard bars with a central counterbalance Weight on the underside in order to instantly and automatically return said guard bars to their normal position.

The invention consists of the improved construction and novel combination of parts of the same as will be hereinafter first fully set forth and described and then pointed out in the claim.

Reference will now be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a cattle guard embodying my invention. In this view the covers for the pivotal ends of the guard bars between the rails are removed. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view on the line as, a, of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 23,

Patented June 1, 1909.

1908. Serial N0. 422,862.

line 2, z, of Fig. 1. Fig. at is a perspective view of one of the guard bars. Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of some of the cattle guard sections illustrating their tilting operation.

In the accompanying drawings the numeral 1 indicates the railroad rails and 2 the cross ties of a railroad-track, on which ties said rails are supported and to which they are rigidly and firmly secured.

3, 3 indicate bearing bars wnich extend transversely across the track and said transverse bearing bars are supported on and rigidly secured to a cross tie, 2, and in the upper face of said transverse bearing bars 3 segmental sockets or recesses 4 are formed. 5, 5 indicate flat guard bars, 6 a triangular shaped rib, rigidly secured on the upper side of each of said guard bars, 7 a counterbalance weight rigidly secured on and to the under side of each of said guard bars, 8 plates rigidly secured one to each end of said guard bars, and 9 a pivot formed integral with each of said plates and located one at each end of each of said guard bars. 10 indicates a thin flat strip of steel or other suitable material which extends over and covers the upper face of said transverse bearing bars 3, whereby the snow and slush is prevented from falling or collecting on said pivots 9 when they rest in the sockets 4 of said transverse bearing bars 3.

In installing this cattle guard the road bed is preferably removed for a short depth below the rails 1 and between the transverse bearing bars 3, 3, and some of the ties 2 lowered as shown in Fig. 3, and a short sill or timber 11 is placed on these lowered ties 2 length wise of and under the short section of the rails between these transverse bearing bars 3, 3; this lowering of the ties prevents snow, frozen slush or water or stones from interfering with the operation of the pivotal guard bars 5.

The bearing bars 3 are each secured transversely of the track to a railroad tie 2, the pivots 9 of the guard bars 5 are then placed in the segmental sockets or recesses 4 formed in said transverse bearing bars 3, and the top plate or cover 10 secured in place over said transverse bearing bars 3 and over said pivots 9, to prevent snow or slush from collecting or freezing on or around said. pivots 9 or in said segmental sockets 4.

The operation is as follows: as the animal steps on this cattle guard to pass from the road on to the railroad-track, part of the foot of the animal must rest on or between the triangular shaped ribs 6, if on the rib 6, this rib being ointed at the upper end the foot will be inc ined which on account of the weight of the animal will overcome the resistance of the counterbalance weight 7. This will make it impossible for the foot of the animal to rest for even a second on said guard bars, because they will tilt as shown in Fig. 5 and the instant that the foot touches the guard bars 5, it will slide off into the cavity below said guard bars, and the latter will be in the position shown in Fig. 5 with the foot of the animal between the two tilted guard bars, and the instant that the foot passes down below said guard bars the counterbalance weight 7 will automatically act to return the guard bars 5 to their normal position. This action will cause the two opposite sides of the adjacent guard bars to grasp the foot of the animal above the hoof, so that as the animal attempts to withdraw its foot the adjacent sides of the two adjacent guard bars will gradually come together and pinch the animals foot. The effect will be to startle or frighten the animal when the foot passes down between the guard bars 5, and to pinch the foot between the guard bars 5 when attempting to withdraw it, causing the animal to draw back and deterring it from another attempt at passing.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A live-stock guard for railway-tracks comprising a series of pivotally-supported rectangular fiat independent guard-bars each provided 011 the upper face approximately centrally thereof with a longitudinally-extending rib triangular in cross section, of a length substantially equal to the length of its respective bar, a longitu(finally-extending counterweight on the under face of each bar, each of said weights of less length than its respective bar and arranged centrally of the ends of the bar, plates secured to the upper faces of said bars at the ends thereof and provided with pivots projecting beyond the ends of the bars, transverse bearing-bars provided with sockets to receive said pivots, and cover strips secured to the upper faces of the bearing-bars and inclosing said pivots.

In testimony whereof, I have signed in the presence of the two undersigned witnesses.

DUGAL THOMSON.

Witnesses:

P. J. EnMUNDs, L. A. MILLER. 

